District 10 - Hunting Prospects by District | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife

2012 Hunting Forecasts by District
District biologists have provided hunting forecasts for their district based on surveys and field work.

District 10
Counties: Lewis, Cowlitz and Wahkiakum
Pat Miller, District Wildlife Biologist

District 10 is located in southwestern Washington and includes Lewis, Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties. This wide area includes maritime rolling hills in Wahkiakum County to Cascade peaks in Lewis County. A high percentage of this district is in private ownership, which presents a variety of access options and challenges. The recent trend is for private forest land to become more limited to public access and in some cases not open at all or leased for hunting seasons to a limited number of participants. Contacting the landowner is the first step in understanding their programs and how it might impact your hunting. WDFW’s Vancouver Regional office is the place to start (360)-696-6211.

Deer and Elk: This district is always either number one or two in statewide harvest for elk and several GMUs are tops in blacktail harvest. Big game populations in Cowlitz and Lewis counties were influenced by a prolonged winter and late spring snows in 2010/2011. The surveys that were conducted for winter elk losses showed increased losses in 2012, indicating a potential reduction in yearling animals and some loss of older animals as a result of the winter conditions. The lowland areas of Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties probably did not see such losses and those might be good areas to focus on during the 2012 season. Those units include GMU 520 (Winston), 550 (Coweeman), 530 (Ryderwood) and 506 (Willapa Hills).

Early hunting season access for archery hunters is often complicated by hot weather and fire access closures. If that occurs, hunters should consider going west to the Willapa 506 unit or to any of the units in the National forest. These areas often stay open during times of high fire danger in the west slope of the Cascades.

Upland Birds: Upland birds are impacted by spring conditions during the hatch which directly affect chick survival. If we have a wet rainy spring, like we did in 2012, the young do not have a high survival rate. Pheasants will be released at locations throughout the district, please consult our webpage for details.

Forest Grouse: This district supports significant forest grouse populations and is one of the top producers for western Washington. However, grouse numbers are likely lower this year with the prolonged wet conditions we experienced in May and early June.

Waterfowl: Duck and goose hunting will be good this fall after the rains in November and December encourage birds to come south to our area. Hunters are reminded to consult the regulations pamphlet for details on the goose seasons and any changes in duck bag limits. Hunting early season is often best along the Columbia River and other large, permanent bodies of water. Remember that the Columbia River is tidal in flow and watch for outgoing tide conditions to avoid having your boat get stuck. Later in the season when high water might disperse birds, having access to farmlands is a great way to adapt to changing behavior patterns of birds.

2011 Hunting Results for District 10

Upland Bird

Quail
The entire District 10 quail harvest of 52 birds came from Clark County.

Forest Grouse
District 10 bird hunters harvested 7,239 forest grouse during the 2011 season, more than 5,600 of them in Cowlitz and Lewis counties.

Big Game

Deer
District 10, near the southwest corner of the state, produced 2,156 deer for hunters during the 2011 general season, more than 90 percent of them bucks. Modern firearms hunters harvested 1,748 (89 percent) of those deer and scored a 14.8 success rate.

Hunters in GMU 520 (Winston) harvested 342 of those deer, about 88 percent of them bucks. GMU 501 (Lincoln) gave up 313 deer in 2011, GMU 530 (Ryderwood), 296 deer. Highest hunter success rate among the district’s modern firearms hunters, 20.9 percent, was in GMU 505 (Mossyrock).

Elk
Hunters in this elk-rich part of the state harvested 966 bulls and 294 antlerless elk to top the total-harvest list during the 2011 general elk season. Roughly half of the elk taken from District 10 were harvested by modern firearms hunters, 31 percent by bow hunters and 17 percent by muzzleloader hunters. Hunters took at least 200 elk from each of four game management units, GMU 596 (Willapa Hills), GMU 520 (Winston), GMU 530 (Ryderwood) and 550 (Coweeman).

Special permit hunters harvested nearly as many elk from District 10 as were taken during the general season. The permit harvest was 972 antlerless elk and 188 bulls, 1,160 in all.

Bear
Hunters harvested 104 black bear in District 10 during the 2011 hunts, 30 of them from GMU (Ryderwood). Other units with double-digit harvest numbers were GMU 501 (Lincoln), 506 (Willapa Hills), 516 (Packwood) and 550 (Coweeman).

Cougar
Hunters harvested six cougar in District 10 during the2011 general season, three of them from GMU 530 (Ryderwood).

Waterfowl

Ducks
Duck hunters harvested over 12,000 birds in both Clark and Lewis counties as District 10 produced an impressive 33,666 ducks during the 2011 season.

Geese
The goose harvest increased from 2010 in Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties, decreased in Clark and Lewis counties, as District 10 hunters harvested 4,270 Canada geese during the 2011 season.